http://www.saturndaily.com/index.html Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST en-us NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully flew by Saturn's moons Enceladus and Dione during close flybys on May 2, 2012, capturing these raw images. The flybys were the last close encounters of these icy moons that Cassini will make for three years. Cassini flew by Enceladus at an altitude of about 46 miles (74 kilometers). This flyby was designed primarily for the radio science sub-system to]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be flying within about 46 miles (74 kilometers) of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wednesday, May 2, aiming primarily to learn more about the moon's internal structure. The flyby is the third part of a trilogy of flybys - the other two took place on April 28, 2010, and Nov. 30, 2010 - for Cassini's radio science experiment. The radio science team is particul]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST Shrouded in a thick, complex, organic haze, Saturn's giant moon Titan is proving to be one of the most scientifically interesting destinations in the solar system. Titan's atmosphere, which is mostly molecular nitrogen with a touch of methane, produces chemically complex hydrocarbons that rain down on Titan's icy surface, forming dunes of organic material. The greenhouse effect provided by]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST Data from NASA's Cassini mission reveal Saturn's moon Phoebe has more planet-like qualities than previously thought. Scientists had their first close-up look at Phoebe when Cassini began exploring the Saturn system in 2004. Using data from multiple spacecraft instruments and a computer model of the moon's chemistry, geophysics and geology, scientists found Phoebe was a so-called planetesimal, or]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST Saturn's giant moon Titan hides within a thick, smoggy atmosphere that's well-known to scientists as one of the most complex chemical environments in the solar system. It's a productive "factory" cranking out hydrocarbons that rain down on Titan's icy surface, cloaking it in soot and, with a brutally cold surface temperature of around minus 270 degrees Fahrenheit, forming lakes of liquid methane]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST Scientists working with images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have discovered strange half-mile-sized (kilometer-sized) objects punching through parts of Saturn's F ring, leaving glittering trails behind them. These trails in the rings, which scientists are calling "mini-jets," fill in a missing link in our story of the curious behavior of the F ring. The results will be presented tomorrow]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST A new study analyzing data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft suggests that the lake, known as Ontario Lacus, behaves most similarly to what we call a salt pan on Earth. A group led by Thomas Cornet of the Universite de Nantes, France, a Cassini associate, found evidence for long-standing channels etched into the lake bed within the southern boundary of the depression. This suggests that]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's moons Enceladus and Tethys were taken on April 14, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Cassini flew by Enceladus at an altitude of about 46 miles (74 kilometers). This flyby was designed primarily for the ion and neutral mass spectrometer to analyze, or "taste," the composition of the moon's south polar plume as the spacecraft flew through it. ]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST Astronomers have found compelling evidence for two low-mass planets orbiting the nearby star Fomalhaut, just 25 light years from Earth. Twice as massive as the sun and 20 times brighter, Fomalhaut is surrounded by a ring of dust and debris, making it a favorite system for astronomers to study and a natural laboratory for testing planet formation theories. In 2008, images of Fomalhaut taken]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST Venus is a rarity among planets - a world that does not internally generate a magnetic field. Despite the absence of a large protective magnetosphere, the near-Venus environment does exhibit a number of similarities with planets such as Earth. The latest, surprising, example is the evidence for magnetic reconnection in Venus' induced magnetotail. Planets which generate magnetic fields in t]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST Since the NASA / ESA Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 2004, astronomers and space scientists have been able to study the ringed planet and its moons in great detail. Now, for the first time, a team of planetary scientists have made simultaneous measurements of Saturn's nightside aurora, magnetic field, and associated charged particles. Together the fields and particle data p]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST In a world first, the sounds of Mars and Venus are revealed as part of a planetarium show in Hampshire this Easter. Despite many years of space exploration, we have no evidence of the sound of other planets. While most planetary probes have focused on imaging with cameras and radar and a couple have carried microphones, none of them successfully listened to the sound of another world. Now,]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's moons Enceladus, Janus and Dione were taken on March 27 and 28, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Cassini passed Enceladus first on March 27, coming within about 46 miles (74 kilometers) of the moon's surface. The encounter was primarily designed for Cassini's ion and neutral mass spectrometer, which "tasted" the composition of Enceladus' south p]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST Saturn's moon Iapetus is one of the most unusual moons in our solar system. Perhaps the most bizarre feature of Iapetus is its equatorial ridge, a 20-km (12.4-mi) high, 200-km (124-mi) wide mountain range that runs exactly along the equator, circling more than 75 percent of the moon. No other body in the solar system exhibits such a feature, and as Dombard et al. show, previous models have]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's moons Enceladus, Janus and Dione were taken on March 27 and 28, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Cassini passed Enceladus first on March 27, coming within about 46 miles (74 kilometers) of the moon's surface. The encounter was primarily designed for Cassini's ion and neutral mass spectrometer, which "tasted" the composition of Enceladus' south p]]> Thu, 17 MAY 2012 14:55:29 AEST